LSAT 137 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q17

LR Question 17 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Any food that is not sterilized and sealed can contain…

QUESTION TYPE: Must be True

FACTS:

1. Acceptable food preservation methods will either i. seal and sterilize food, or ii. slow the grow of disease causing bacteria.
2. Some acceptable techniques might destroy certain enzymes. The enzymes cause food to spoil or discolor. (So, destroying these enzymes would slow spoilage and discoloration.)
3. Sterilizing and sealing food means it won’t contain bacteria.
4. Any non-sterilized food can contain bacteria.

ANALYSIS: The second fact above is just there to distract you. The author made no link between enzyme destruction and whether a method uses sterilization.

The other facts to remember are that:

• Not all unsterilized food has bacteria. It merely can (1st sentence).
• Some foods preserved by an acceptable method can have bacteria. (i.e. those methods which merely slow growth of bacteria)

___________

1. This contradicts the stimulus. The author said that some acceptable techniques merely slow the growth of bacteria.
2. This answer just combines two unrelated terms from the stimulus. The author made no link between enzyme destruction and whether a method sterilized food.
3. This is the same as B. The author made no link between whether a method uses sterilization and whether it destroys discoloring enzymes.
4. CORRECT. This is true. The first sentence says that any food can contain bacteria if that food isn’t sterilized and sealed. And some acceptable methods don’t sterilize (i.e. those methods which merely slow the growth of bacteria.)
5. The stimulus didn’t say that all non-sterilized foods contain bacteria. It only said that they can contain them (1st sentence).